This invention relates to improvements in corn detasseling apparatus and more particularly to such an apparatus capable of acting separately on corn stalks of different heights to remove the tassels therefrom as the apparatus moves through a field of rows of corn.
The process of developing hybrid corn, as is well known, involves the crossing of several varieties to obtain the best characteristics of each and this requires removing the tassels from the top of certain rows of corn stalks prior to the release of pollen so that pollination with the desired varieties can be achieved. In this regard, it is desirable that the detasseling remove only a minimum amount of the leaves for the untimely and unnecessary leaf removal and resulting plant damage adversely affects the corn yield and quality.
The manual method of removing tassels from each stalk is widely used and generally results in a minimum of plant damage but such method is time consuming, expensive, involves personnel problems and becomes a serious economic consideration when large scale plantings must be detasseled. Accordingly, several mechanical corn detasseling machines have been developed which include the two general types of "pullers" as seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,712,035 and 3,855,761 and "cutters" exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,025,653 and 3,717,982. Each type has both advantages and disadvantages in that the "pullers" appear to cause less damage to the leaves but tend to plug or slip when the plants are wet and the "cutters" operate faster but result at times in more plant damage so that the type used with the present invention can be a matter of choice. Both types, however, are, for all practical purposes, designed for and limited to removing tassels at a given height and since corn stalks grow to different heights due to the different sizes of the plants, present mechanical detasselers are not able to remove the tassels on short stalks without seriously harming the taller plants. Mechanical detasselers are thus usually directed toward the taller stalks leaving in most instances a substantial number of short stalks which require a manual clean-up involving added time and expense.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,035 treats the problem of detasseling tall and short stalks by vertically spaced tassel severing means to make cuts on the respective short and tall stalks at appropriate places but since with this device all stalks must travel the same path, unnecessary portions of the taller stalks are severed by the lower cutter and only lower outcropping of leaves are left. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,761, a vertical adjustment of the device is provided to meet the height variation but if adjusted for the shorter stalks, the damage to the taller stalks is unavoidable.
With the above observations in mind, it is one of the important objects of the present invention to provide a corn detasseling apparatus capable of discriminating between tall and short plants within predetermined limits and to effect the removal of the tassels at the respective heights without the detasseling at one height having any effect on a tassel or plant of a different height.
More particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide a corn detasseler of the above class which includes a plurality of spaced tassel severing stations disposed at different predetermined height ranges and associated with a guide or deflector device to discriminate between corn stalks of different height ranges and to guide such stalks into the appropriate tassel severing station as such detasseler moves through a field of rows of corn.
Another object is to provide a corn detasseler as characterized which may be mounted to various types of available farm equipment for towing or self propulsion along rows of corn.
A further object is to provide such a detasseler adaptable for arrangement in a gang formation for multiple row operation.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a corn detasseling apparatus designed to efficiently remove substantially all tassels of varying heights in a row of corn with a minimum of plant damage and to minimize, if not eliminate, any necessity for a manual clean-up operation.
The foregoing objects and such further objects as may appear herein, or be hereinafter pointed, together with the advantages of this invention will be more fully discussed and developed in the more detailed description of the accompanying drawings.